Julia Ormond

Julia Ormond "has a track record of advocacy on human rights issues in her individual capacity, as the Founding chair of FilmAid International and the President of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET). FilmAid, an independent non-profit launched at the height of the Kosovo refugee crisis, uses the power of film to promote health, strengthen communities, and enrich the lives of the world's vulnerable and uprooted. ASSET works with corporations, NGOs, government officials, and individuals to create the systemic change needed to eradicate slavery at source.

"In September 2003, Julia testified before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus about the plight of refugees. In January 2003, she received the prestigious Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. The award is reserved for media figures that use their talents and influence to make substantial contributions to humanitarian causes. ASSET has since helped, as a member of the US Action Group to End Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery, to launch the United States Congressional Caucus to Abolish Slavery and organized a UN Security Council Arria on the intersect between terrorism, organized crime, and trafficking in persons and its threat to international security.

"Ms. Ormond has worked closely with Vital Voices Global Partnership, a prominent NGO actively engaged in anti-human trafficking initiatives. In September 2005, she worked on anti-human trafficking advocacy initiatives with Vital Voices and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Moscow. During this mission to Moscow she also presented the MTV Russian Music Award to a young activist fighting AIDS. Other activities have included appearances at events for Human Rights Watch and Paul McCartney's Adopt-a-Minefield Campaign. In November 2005 she received an award from Women for Women International on 19 November 2005. She co-hosted the 2005 UNAIDS' annual World AIDS Day event in New York, as well as UNODC anti-trafficking events on 2 December 2005, the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

"Ms. Ormond is well known for her film roles in the following motion pictures: "Legends of the Fall"; "Sabrina"; "Smilla's Sense of Snow"; First Knight; and, "The Barber of Siberia." She is also the Executive Producer of the 1996 Emmy award-winning documentary "Calling of the Ghosts," an intimate story of survival of two women in Bosnia, caught in a war where rape was as much an everyday weapon as bullets and bombs. She received a 2002 Golden Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 2002 Television movie "Varian's War", and was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award that same year for her performance in "My Zinc Bed" at the Royal Court Theatre.

"In December 2005 she became the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Goodwill Ambassador against Trafficking and Slavery, and has since visited Ghana, Cambodia, Thailand and India. In June 2006 she gave Congressional testimony on trafficking and slavery before the House Sub Committee on Human Rights."


 * Cofounder, FilmAid International
 * Advisory Board (former member), Coalition for International Justice